London Rules (Jackson Lamb #5)

London Rules (Jackson Lamb #5)

'Mick Herron is an incredible writer and if you haven't read him yet, you NEED to' Mark BillinghamLondon Rules might not be written down, but everyone knows rule one.Cover your arse.Regent's Park's First Desk, Claude Whelan, is learning this the hard way. Tasked with protecting a beleaguered prime minister, he's facing attack from all directions himself: from the showboating MP who orchestrated the Brexit vote, and now has his sights set on Number Ten; from the showboat's wife, a tabloid columnist, who's crucifying Whelan in print; from the PM's favourite Muslim, who's about to be elected mayor of the West Midlands, despite the dark secret he's hiding; and especially from his own deputy, Lady Di Taverner, who's alert for Claude's every stumble.Meanwhile, the country's being rocked by an apparently random string of terror attacks, and someone's trying to kill Roddy Ho.Over at Slough House, the crew are struggling with personal problems: repressed grief, various addictions, retail paralysis, and the nagging suspicion that their newest colleague is a psychopath. But collectively, they're about to rediscover their greatest strength - that of making a bad situation much, much worse.It's a good job Jackson Lamb knows the rules. Because those things aren't going to break themselves.******Praise for Mick Herron'The new spy master' Evening Standard'Herron is spy fiction's great humorist, mixing absurd situations with sparklingly funny dialogue and elegant, witty prose' The Times'Herron draws his readers so fully into the world of Slough House that the incautious might find themselves slipping between the pages and transformed from reader to spook' Irish Times

Reviews

London Rules epitomises precisely why Mick Herron's espionage novels are the new hallmarks of the genre. It's a rousing, provocative - and genuinely funny, at times - political thriller with a labyrinthine plot * Simon McDonald * London Rules may be the best Jackson Lamb thriller yet, and that's saying something, considering how brilliant the previous ones are * Mark Billingham * The characters whose acquaintance I'm most looking forward to renewing are the hapless spies created by Mick Herron. They return in London Rules, the fifth instalment of the Slough House series. These disaster-prone spooks create chaos wherever they go, so they'll feel right at home in this book which tackles the murky machinations behind the scenes of Brexit * Sunday Express * The best modern British spy series continues in February in which the irrepressible Jackson Lamb and his crackpot team of fallen spies must once again save the UK * Daily Express * London Rules takes the Jackson Lamb series to new levels of nerve-shredding tension, leavened as always with moments of eye-watering hilarity - often on the same page * Christopher Brookmyre * Mick Herron is the John le Carre of our generation * Val McDermid *

Author description

Mick Herron's first Jackson Lamb novel, Slow Horses, was described as the 'most enjoyable British spy novel in years' by the Mail on Sunday and picked as one of the best twenty spy novels of all time' by the Daily Telegraph. The second, Dead Lions, won the 2013 CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger. The third, Real Tigers, was shortlisted for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and both the CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger and the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. The fourth, Spook Street, was shortlisted for both the Gold and Steel Dagger. London Rules is the fifth.Mick Herron was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, and now lives in Oxford.